All posts for the month May, 2012

Yesterday, a missions pastor friend wrote asking how to effectively engage young and inexperienced Christian visionaries who are setting out to change the world, but are bypassing his local church on the way. My friend wrote:

“My struggle is how to connect with these guys, come along side of them, encourage them to look at the big picture, consider what kind of support system they might need, encourage them to take the time to prepare and allow them to see how the church can and should play a role in what they’re doing. AND, doing all of this without quenching their passion.”

I responded in part:

First, all entrepreneurs go through a natural vetting process. They must slog their way through all kinds of hurdles to start their endeavors. It is in this “slogging” that one gains experience that refines and confirms vision. The startup time of most endeavors serves to humble the enthusiastic visionaries leaving them either disillusioned or resilient. Passion is a great place to start, but it is not enough to build a sustainable solution to real problems. Entrepreneurs need wisdom, resources, and other assistance that is often readily available in local churches. So, pragmatically speaking, I don’t think you should worry about the problem you see. For the young adults you are observing to succeed, they must either receive the kind of help you would like to give them from you or someone else, or they will fail. Stated differently, if you wait a little, the smart ones will come to you.

Second, on the other hand, when we were starting Caleb Project, even though we placed a high value on the importance of the local church, almost no one took us seriously. First, most “missions” people in churches did not understand what we were talking about and did not care enough to even listen. Second, we did not fit into traditional “missions” categories, so even when people did give us some time, they couldn’t give us practical help. During the three Caleb Project decades, we never really overcame that hurdle. So, I would encourage you to not passively “wait” for them to come to you, but to nurture an “open to new ideas” culture within the church. Is your church really open to young visionaries who want to change the world with new approaches?

Most churches are more interested in filtering new initiatives than releasing them. Ironically, even if individuals in the church enthusiastically support a new idea, the structure of the church usually prohibits meaningful collaboration.

Bottom line, “If you build it, they will come.” If your church’s people and structure are really open and inviting of innovation, the entrepreneurs will find you. That would be exciting!

Culture is a complex topic. It is impossible to fully understand another culture. In fact, it is difficult to understand your own, although your culture is at least comfortable to you. Our challenge in cross-cultural understanding and communication is to suspend judgment. You must start with the assumption and expectation that the way the people in another culture, think and do things has as much logic as the way you think and do things, even if it is different. If what they do doesn’t make sense to you, you can be sure that the way you do things doesn’t make sense to them.

So, for example, to say that some predominately Islamic cultures see women as objects of sin and therefore force them to fully cover themselves is as accurate as it is to say that Westerners offer their women as unprotected sacrifices on the altar of men’s lusts. Why else would women appear mostly naked in public?

A way to understand why some cultures expect their women to be covered was explained by a young Arab woman. When questioned about having to be covered in public, she responded, “If there are two candy bars on the table, one still in its wrapper and one unwrapped, which one would you choose to eat?” When you look at it that way, covering women makes a lot of sense. Covering is a way to protect and honor women.

Culture is like an ice burg. You see the tip above the water, but most of it is hidden beneath the surface. Rather than judging an entire people because of what appears above the surface, remain inquisitive. Assume there are legitimate values, beliefs, and other worldview issues that lie below the surface. By understanding more of the reasons behind the behavior you will be inclined to be more accepting of the people who are different from you.

Yesterday I had the delightful privilege to spend most of the day with Chris Ampadu, a West African leader of growing influence. Chris teaches Christian worldview and related topics in most West African countries. Chris is Ghanaian and loves Africa, yet he is disturbed by the values and behaviors that hinder Africans from reaching their potential. He believes that Africa is among the most blessed continents, with huge potential due to its vast natural resources and creative, smart and strong people. He is embarrassed that Africans have allowed themselves to become dependent on foreign aid and chastises his countrymen about it. He tells them, “We can pay our own way, take care of our own problems, and become a blessing to other nations.”

Chris and his colleagues create venues for their message by inviting local Christian leaders to come to training conferences. They are philosophically opposed to paying people to come, so they are at a disadvantage compared to their Western competitors who invite the same people to events where the participants are treated to nice accommodations, fancy food, and sometimes even per-diam allowances. The Western sponsored conferences attract large crowds. Chris’s events attract small crowds, but Chris’s conferences are having a greater, more positive sustainable impact.

Anda Leadership follows a philosophical stream that parallels Chris’s and we are looking for ways to work together. We believe that Anda Leadership trainers can enhance his conferences by providing content that is not readily available in Africa without overwhelming the local initiative with western money or other influence.

Anda Leadership responds to invitations like Chris’s, giving them a hand-up, not a hand-out.

Laura, my oldest daughter, is in Botswana. She is there to conduct some research for Anda Leadership and to meet her fiancee’s family. I enjoy staying in contact with her via Skype.

Earlier this week Laura told me about a conversation she had with a pastor in Gaborone, Botswana’s capital. She told him about Anda Leadership’s desire to enable emerging market entrepreneurs. She explained that we do not intend to bring a packaged program, but instead to be available to assist according to the needs expressed by local leaders.

This forward thinking pastor was ready with a request for us. He explained that the business people he knows are already skilled in most business practices. They don’t need us to train them in topics such as marketing, accounting, planning, etc. Rather, where they tend to be weak is understanding personal and business ethics. It is not that they are bad people. They just haven’t had good role models and no one has taught them how to care for people, the long-term consequences of cutting corners, the importance of ongoing personal development, etc.

This is exciting to us, because character topics are the most important. We know that if business people live lives of integrity and lead their organizations with excellence and compassion that their entire communities will be enriched and God will be honored. We are delighted to respond to this kind of request. Maybe a character-based leadership training event will come to Gaborone soon! Let me know if you would like to participate in some way.

Regarding Laura’s second agenda item, even with poor connections, she lights up the computer screen. I’d say she is enjoying meeting Kagi’s family and is looking forward to her August 18 wedding.

Last evening I stepped back into one of my favorite roles, professor. I began teaching a World Religions class at Whitworth University that is geared for adult learners. To accommodate the students who generally work full time and are responsible for families, the class meets six Tuesday evenings from 6 to 10 and two Saturdays from 8AM to 4PM. I particularly enjoy teaching these students because they tend to be even more eager to learn than the traditional students.

Early in last evening’s class, I asked each student to share their experiences with other religions, what they hoped to get out of the course, and what they thought would be the hurdles to receiving what they desired. As you would expect their experience varied. Some had almost no exposure to other religions, others had broad exposure. In one way or another, they all said that they want to grow in their understanding of the world’s religions.

Many of the hurdles they listed were practical. They live busy lives and have various responsibilities that can prohibit them from investing all they desire in the course. I expected that, but I was pleasantly surprised by the number of students who also honestly talked about the difficulty they expect to have in maintaining open minds regarding other religions. They confessed that they knew it would be difficult. They recognize deep seated prejudice and know it will be difficult to be objective.

Later in the evening, I lead them through a discussion about suspending judgement. We talked about the difference between “judging” a person and “discerning” what is true. We said that ideas have relative value, some are good, some are bad, and some are silly. However, people are always to be honored. We need to treat all people with respect regardless of their belief system. We do that by being curious and inquisitive.

Near the end of the four hour class period, I broke the class into groups and assigned each group a primary literature passage from one of the five world religions we are studying. They read the passage, discussed it in their group, and reported what they learned to the entire class. Because I have done this before, I was not surprised at the number of judgmental comments that the students made. However, it reminded me of how difficult it is to be truly respectful of people who are not like us.

This morning I spoke with a remarkable British couple who has been assisting emerging entrepreneurs for many years. They have developed a training workshop based on the Jesus stories of the Feeding of the 5000 and the Parable of the Talents.

From the Feeding of the 5000 story, they teach that we need to understand our resources. We should look at what we have, not what we don’t have. Investing what we have will result in more.

From the Parable of the Talents, they teach responsibility to strategically use what God has given. Vision and initiative are required and rewarded. Inaction is punished.

My new friends help people who are just getting started, those who are taking their first steps into business. They teach topics such as simple market research, risk management, managing cash flow, record keeping and how to handle profits. Now some of the people are succeeding and need more specific training. For example, some of them see a need for a “credit union.” They would like to pool some of their funds and make them available to each other for emergencies and other specific uses.

Unfortunately, they don’t know anything about starting a credit union. What are the pot holes to be avoided? What kind of rules should be established? How do they structure accountability? In fact, they don’t even know if they are asking the right questions. They don’t know what they don’t know.

So, I volunteered to provide someone who can help them. That is exactly what Anda Leadership is in business to do.

Now, I need your help. Do you know someone with credit union experience who would be willing to help these fledgling Kenyan entrepreneurs? Please help me get in touch with them.